U.S. U-17 MNT vs. Tunisia - Post-Match Quotes

NewsAug 23, 2007

U.S. Head coach John HackworthOn the result:“It’s a hard result to swallow. In the second half we did all we could, and played good, attacking soccer. We pushed as hard as we could, and you have to give Tunisia a lot of credit for defending with everything they had. We’re very disappointed and hopefully we will learn from this game.”

On his team’s play:“One thing I don’t think we did very well was create enough good goal-scoring opportunities for ourselves. We had chances with several free kicks and none of them were effective for us.”

On the weather, and how it affected tonight’s game:“The heat and humidity are difficult here when you’re trying to play two games in three days. I definitely think the pace of the game in the first half from both teams was a bit slow and that probably had something to do with the heat.”

On the formation change in the second half:“When we were down two goals, and we knew we had to get a result to go through, we had to take a defender out and we had to put another attacking player on.”

On how the team will approach the game against Belgium:“We’re going to approach our game against Belgium the same way we approached the last two games. I’m going to go scout Belgium right now and start putting together a game plan to get a result in the final group match.”

On whether Tunisia has the potential to go far in the tournament:“I think at the draw, people initially thought that this would be a weak group, but as it turns out, it’s one of the toughest groups in the tournament. I wish Tunisia all the best, and I think they have a chance to do very well here”

U.S. Midfielder Alex NimoOn tonight’s game:“We came out trying to get the result today and unfortunately it didn’t happen for us today. We’re obviously disappointed with how the game turned out.”

On whether he thinks Tunisia could go far in the tournament:“We wish Tunisia the best of luck going forward. They have shown in their two games that they’re a good team."